Part 32 (2/2)

We shall not want to return here”

”Yes, to the entrance of the chief's resting-place How uarantee a friendlyanswer

”We will await you at the foot of the path”

As the osie lowered the rifle which he had held ready for use, his finger resting lightly on the trigger; but he did not move from his post until Ellerey called him

”Ready, lad; we march at once”

”You are satisfied with the ee of our mission will be accomplished”

”And then?”

”The result lies on the knees of the Gods,” said Ellerey

”Do we all go?” asked the boy ”Yes”

”And leave none to keep this refuge?”

”What should ith a refuge? We have come too far for that If success does not lie in the road before us, the only refuge we can hope for is in death”

”I have a strange liking for life, Captain, just now”

Thepath, Ellerey and Stefan bringing up the rear Grigosie turned to look back at the ruined walls, and the tower standing gaunt against the mountain-side He had enthusiastically called it his, and in the desertion of it there ret From the castle the lad's eyes followed the shape and direction of the ridges which lay about it, as though to impress the picture on his mind, but he spoke no word, and studiously avoided Anton's eyes, which questioned hied through his brain to any order They raged and beat against the unknown shores of the future as a wind-swept ocean will against a rocky coast, carrying with them his hopes and aling against shi+pwreck There was soret the comparatively quiet haven of that castle in the hills

In silence he mounted with the others at the foot of the path, and the little band of horse pace, so that the envoys froht keep up with then from the former fell a few paces farther in the rear

”It is evident that we shall presently have to leave the horses, Stefan; you and Anton shall stay with theo forward to deliver the token While you wait keep a keen lookout on the hillsides and on--”

”On Anton,” Stefan suggested ”I need no bidding, Captain I do not trust hi to his coosie”

”The boy is stanch, I think, but it is perhaps as well to have them separated,” said Ellerey; ”that is why I leave Anton to you”

”He'll be in strict company, Captain, have no fear”

”I see no reason to doubt success,” said Ellerey, after a pause, alhed out of them

”There are many who have looked upon success, and yet have not had arrasp it,” said Stefan ”It's as well not to s in the throat”

Their way lay up the pass toward the narrow defile which nature had closed long ago There was an upward incline, but it was quite easy for the horses The pass gradually narrowed as they went, and the reat walls on either side Little foothold was there for a lurking eneht hide To defend this part of the pass in the old days le in the narroay Ellerey noted this as he went His life in Sturatzberg had made him observant